Biggest songs of 2017: 'Despacito' vs 'Shape of You'

Biggest songs of 2017: 'Despacito' vs 'Shape of You'

2017 was a good year for Ed Sheeran and Luis Fonsi, but which artist had the biggest song of the year? 

Despacito music video
Screenshot

The year 2017 will go down as one of the most successful for many musicians. 

Relatively unknown artist Cardi B made history when she became the first female rapper to have a solo number one single in 19 years.

Her smash hit, 'Bodak Yellow', was the little engine that could.

The last female rapper to have a number one song in America with no featured artists was Lauryn Hill, with 'Doo Wop (That Thing)' in 1998. 

'Bodak Yellow' snatched the number one spot from Taylor Swift in September. 

But comeback queen Taylor was making music waves of her own in 2017. 

The 27-year-old made history with her new album, 'Reputation'. 

The album's lead single, 'Look What You Made Me Do', broke a number of records including most played song on Spotify in a single day. 

The video for the song also broke a YouTube record after being played 43,2-million times in 24 hours. 

ALSO READ: Ellen DeGeneres stars in spoof of 'Look What You Made Me Do' video

But while female artists kicked major butt in 2017, it was their male counterparts who scored some of the biggest hits of the year. 

Ed Sheeran had one of the most successful years of his career, with his album ' ÷ ' producing his first two number one songs in America.

'Shape of You' and his 'Perfect' remix featuring Beyonce both jumped to number on the Billboard Hot 100. Both songs were also a hit in South Africa. 'Perfect' is currently at number two on the Coca-Cola top 40.

'Shape of You' was the best performing song in America this year, and it didn't do too badly abroad.

It spent 14 non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and 16 consecutive weeks on the Canadian Hot 100.

It was streamed 1.32-billion times on Spotify, making it the most streamed song on the streaming service. 

ALSO READ: Ed Sheeran rules Spotify in 2017

But Ed was not the only male artist making history. Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi made music history with his 'Despacito' remix featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber.  

The reggaeton-pop song won several Latin Grammy Awards, and is up for 'Record of the Year', 'Song of the Year' and 'Best Pop Duo/Group Performance' at the 2018 Grammy Awards. 

The 'Despacito' video became the first to hit three-billion views on YouTube

It currently has over four-billion views!

The song also spent a record-breaking 16 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

So, which is the biggest song of the year? That's up for debate, but it's a very close race between 'Despacito' and 'Shape of You'.

Which song do you think deserves the title of biggest song? 

ALSO READ: Sia's Christmas album is amazing!

Carol Ofori and Ricky take you through 40 of the planet’s hottest songs in our weekly chart show, the Coca-Cola Top 40, on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. 

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